


Kitty Missed the Message

by GalahadWilder



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chat Noir is an idiot, F/M, Fluff, Might add more chapters later if enough people request it, Pining, big dumbass energy, seriously this will rot your teeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2020-04-23 20:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19158280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder
Summary: Chat Noir knows they're not dating. So why do their patrols keep feeling more and more like dates?





	1. Chapter 1

It’s been a month since Ladybug first brought a DVD player on one of their patrols. It had been after both of them had big tests at the same time, and she’d said she was tired—patrol could wait. She just wanted to spend time without any particular stress. Time with him. With her friend.

It wasn’t a date. He knew that. But it was nice to pretend.

Patrols has been changing ever since then, and while he knows the  _ how _ , he can’t figure out the  _ why _ . She’s relaxing more around him, and patrols are getting less and less professional, less and less mobile; some nights they just stay in one place, talking and laughing, and every time he sees her smile he falls a little harder.

Tonight, they’re on one of their favorite rooftops, one with a view of the bridge, and she’s brought a full picnic with all of the things he’s mentioned, in passing, are his favorites. He’s still a little surprised by how willing she is to stand still, now; not two months ago, she would’ve been insisting on them moving, covering ground, as soon as they met up, but tonight she’d already set up the blanket when he’d arrived.

“I’m telling you,” she says around a mouthful of croissant, “the new controls are amazing. They upgraded your mech, too—you gotta try it!”

He picks apart the muffin with his claws, extracting the chocolate chips and popping each one into his mouth. “Haven’t had time,” he says. “This week’s been real busy at my job.” Which is a shame. He’d gotten the new Mecha Strike pretty much as soon as it came out, but he hasn’t had more than ten minutes to himself all week; not nearly enough time to even get past the tutorial. He’s a little jealous that she’s been able to clock so much time on it.

Ladybug laughs, and it’s so bright, so full of life, that he can’t help but smile as well. “One day,” she says, “I am gonna find out where you work…” She leans forward, pointing at him with a mischievous grin. “...and I am just gonna  _ deck _ your boss.” He’s talked before about how much he dislikes his job, his workplace; not enough for her to know what he does, but enough that she’s made these kinds of threats before.

He responds how he always does. “Please don’t,” he says with a chuckle. “I kind of need this job.”

“It’s a shame you don’t get more time to yourself,” Ladybug says, looking down at the Seine with the reflection of the lights shining in her eyes. “Going to school  _ and _ working full time, I’m amazed you manage to be Chat Noir.”

“Well, you know,” he says. “Any time I can spare for you.” He grins in a manner that he assumes is flirty—he’s seen anime characters do it before, and it usually gets  _ some _ kind of attention. He knows she’ll either shut him down or pass it off as friendship, because that’s what she always does. Never lets him get close. And he’s fine with that, really.

She places her hand on top of his, and his heart skips a beat. “I’m glad you manage,” she says. “I love spending time with you.”

It’s not quite ‘I love you,’ but he’ll take it. She’s been saying things like that a lot more, lately. He knows she doesn’t mean them the way they sound to him; wishful thinking on his part never got him anywhere. So he lets it slide without saying the thing he desperately wants to, without telling her how he’d leave his whole life behind just to spend a few precious extra minutes with her, and instead just says, “Yeah, me too.”

She laces her fingers into his, and he feels all the muscles in his arm tense, desperate not to move even a little bit, to give her an excuse to let go. He licks his lips. This isn’t a date, he reminds himself, no matter how much he wants it to feel like one.

She turns to look at him and smiles, and it’s so  _ bright _ . He smiles back, a pained, needy thing, and he looks at her lips, hoping that maybe, maybe, if the universe is truly kind—well, it’s not, so he just imagines kissing her.

And then suddenly he’s not imagining. It’s quick, it’s sudden, but for just a moment her lips are on his, and he can taste croissant on her mouth, and—

All of his nerves catch fire at once and he panics. Yanks his face away with a yelp, scrabbles backward, bangs his head on the ventilation ducts.

“Oh my gosh, Chaton, are you okay?” Ladybug cries, her hands covering her mouth. She’s blushing horrifically, and it’s adorable on her, but he’s too terrified and confused to properly appreciate it. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve asked first, I thought you’d like it, I didn’t realize—”

She’s babbling. He can’t stop staring at her, ignoring the ache in the back of his head. “Bug?” he says, and she stops instantly.

“Chaton?”

“Why did you kiss me?”

She clutches her bicep, looks down. “Well, it’s our one-month, and I thought it would be nice if… you know…”

He blinks. “One month?” he says. “Of what?”

Her head snaps up, her eyes meet his, and she tilts. “Since… we started… dating?”

His diaphragm implodes. She… he… they’re…  _ what? _

“We’re  _ dating?”  _ he croaks. “But I thought…”

She squeezes her eyes shut and gently  _ thunks _ her head into the brickwork next to her. “Kwami on a cracker,” she whispers. “How is every boy I fall in love with  _ this much of a moron?” _

In love with. She said  _ in love with. _ Chat’s mouth goes dry.

“Or, no,” she mumbles. “Luka’s smarter than this. I bet  _ he’d _ realize it if I tried to flirt with him…”

Every single one of her actions over the last month suddenly makes sense. The movie nights, the picnics, the way her touches have been getting steadily more intimate (that he’s been ignoring, assuming she didn’t mean it the way he thought when she  _ super frickin’ did _ ), the way she fusses over him when there’s literally no reason to because nothing’s happened—

He shakes his head. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he says.

“I didn’t think I had to!” she cries in anguish. “I thought I was being obvious!”

It’s still sinking in, and his insides are feeling warmer and warmer with every second; not only does she like him, not only does she  _ love _ him, not only does she want to date him, she’s  _ been _ dating him for a  _ month _ without him noticing.

He’s died and gone to heaven. Or maybe hell. He’s not sure. It’s definitely moving from one to the other, though.

A smile spreads across his face. “Oh my gosh,” he says. “You like me.”

“What?”

“You  _ like _ me.”

She rolls her eyes. “ _ Yes _ , you  _ stupid cat _ .”

He springs forward, taking her hand. “You like me!” he cries, and there are tears in his eyes now. “You  _ like _ me!”

She reaches up with her other hand, caresses his cheek. “Yes, I do,” she murmurs, then kisses him on the cheek.

His face heats up. “Wait,” he says. “I thought cheek kissing was a friend thing?”

She laughs. “I swear,” she says, “you’re just as bad as Adrien.”

He stops breathing. “As bad as  _ who _ ?”


	2. Chapter 2

"There's _thousands_ of people named 'Adrien' in Paris!" Plagg protests from Adrien's inside shirt pocket. "There's no way she meant you."

"And how many of those Adriens does Ladybug know?" Adrien mumbles, gazing down at the lid on his coffee cup. He sits—no, lies—against the front steps of the school, too tired to even bother trying to keep his back straight. Between the thrill of his new love life and the confusion of her dropping his name, he didn't get any sleep last night; he's allowed to slump a little.

"A lot of them, probably!" Plagg says. "She saves lots of people."

"And how many people has she given a Miraculous to?" Adrien says, gritting his teeth as he contemplates his coffee, then throwing back a sip fast enough to miss his tongue entirely—though it still scalds the back of his throat. He gasps, hacking.

He hates the taste of coffee. Even the burning is better.

"Um," Plagg says, squirming. "Ten?"

"Exactly," Adrien rasps, trying to clear his throat. "They can't _all_ be Adrien. And since she knows Chloé..."

Plagg snuggles grumpily into his chest. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so smart," the Kwami says.

"Too bad you're stuck with me," Adrien says, looking down the street contemplatively. Where is Nino? He's fairly certain he impressed on him the urgency of his dilemma.

_As bad as Adrien._

"Am I really that oblivious?" he mutters to himself.

"Well you didn't notice _me_ ," Nino says from behind him.

Adrien  _shrieks_ , leaping from the steps and stumbling onto the sidewalk, all hackles and hissing. He can feel the pressure on his scalp as his hair tries to stand on end, only to get dragged down by its own weight.

"Dude?" Nino says, shock written across his face.

Adrien looks down at where he flung his coffee, trying to straighten himself without meeting Nino's eyes and hiding the blush burning up his cheeks. "I'm fine!" he yelps. Being a cat is so embarrassing sometimes.

"Dude!" Nino cackles. "I haven't seen you jump like that since the thing with the cucumber!"

"I thought I asked you not to bring that up again," Adrien grumbles, splashing the sole of his foot in his spilled coffee and spreading it dejectedly across the sidewalk. A waste of good caffeine, that is.

Nino’s mouth twists. “Ah. Right,” he says, gently taking Adrien’s forearm. “Sorry, bro.”

”It’s fine,” Adrien says with a slight smile. “I  _did_ look like a doof, didn’t I?”

”The doofiest,” Nino says with a nod and a grin. He steps back and folds his arms. “What was so urgent that you needed me at the butt-end of the morning?”

Adrien opens his mouth, closes it again. "I, uh..." he begins. "You... remember that girl I keep saying I like? The one I work with?"

Nino raises an eyebrow. "The one who's not interested in you?"

Adrien's stomach bottoms out. "Yeah," he says. "Or, well. No?” He looks down at his feet, scratching at the back of his neck. How to put this? “It's gotten... weird."

Nino crosses his arms with a wry grin, sinking his weight backward into an uncharacteristically sassy sort of pose, the one he’s been doing more often the more time he spends with Alya. "Weird how?"

Adrien closes his eyes, breathes in, breathes out. "According to her,” he says, picking his thumbnails into his fingers, “yesterday was our one-month anniversary."

Nino’s silence is somehow louder than any words would have been. Adrien opens one eye, wincing, bracing for judgement, only to see confused pride on his friend’s face.

"So... wait," Nino finally says, pushing up his glasses and rubbing his sinuses with his fingers. "Let me—let—” He shakes his head. “You're  _dating_ her now?"

Adrien shrugs in distress. "Yes?" he says with another wince. "I'm... it's confusing." He raises his fingers to his lips, the memory of the softness of Ladybug's mouth on his own warming his face. "She...  _did_ kiss me last night. Unprompted."

Nino's eyes grow wide. "Dude," he says, holding out his fist. "Dap."

Adrien taps his knuckles against Nino's, still a little too confused to properly appreciate the situation.

“Come on,” Nino says. “Let’s head inside, we can talk while sitting.”

Adrien nods, following without really meaning to move his legs at all.

“So what changed?” Nino says as they walk down the hallway toward their lockers.

“What do you mean?” Adrien says, his eyes wandering. His head still feels a little fuzzy, to be honest.

Nino shrugs. “Well, I mean...” he says, “there’s gotta have been  _some_ kind of change, right? That led to her changing her mind?”

The side of Adrien’s mouth twists. “I got nothing,” he mumbles.

Nino turns to stare at him, then snorts and rolls his eyes. “Not surprised,” he says. “You’re not always the best at noticing things like that.”

”That’s... actually why I wanted to talk to you,” Adrien says. “Am I... really that oblivious?”

Nino stops walking and sighs. ”I...” He catches his tongue between his teeth. “You know how pretty much everyone we know has had a crush on Marinette at some point?"

Adrien gives a small smile. “Of course,” he says. That’s pretty much a given.

Nino nods. "Did you ever wonder why she never took anyone up on it until last month?"

"Yeah," Adrien says. "She had a guy she liked, right?"

Nino’s shoulders slump. "Yeah," He says. "You."

Adrien's train of thought comes to a screeching halt. "What?" he says.

Nino reaches out and claps Adrien’s shoulder. “She had a crush on you, dude.”

Adrien blinks. “But, her new boyfriend... wasn’t  _he_ the guy?”

Nino snorts. “Nope,” he says. “It was you, bro. And you were the only one who never knew.”

Adrien feels like lightning has been rammed into his skull.  _As bad as Adrien..._ it couldn’t be, right?

There’s no way.

* * *

Class isn’t as difficult as he was expecting. It’s  _worse_. Nino’s words aren’t much to go on—in fact, they’re nothing at all, but it’s the first clue he’s had. So his brain, scrambled from exhaustion and caffeine as it is, can’t stop flitting around Marinette.

First: Kwamibuster. He’d been  _certain_ she was Ladybug, all the evidence he’d needed had been there, they were so alike, so brilliant and energetic... and then he’d seen them right next to each other. Different people? Illusion? And then Marinette had suddenly picked up a boyfriend, one who nobody in the class had met, and Adrien had been... so disappointed, but he could never pinpoint why.

When was that, anyway?

_Was it a month ago?_

He can’t pay any attention to anything that’s happening in front of him—the only thing he can hear is Marinette, Marinette, Marinette. It can’t be her, right? But his brain won’t let it go.

”So, how was your anniversary date?” Alya says with what Adrien can only assume is a sly grin. He can see her exact expression, even though he’s trying desperately not to turn around. Not to let on that he’s listening.

Marinette makes a sound like she’s swallowed her tongue. “Uh! W-weird, actually.”

Alya hums. “Weird how?” He hears the flannel of her shirt slide against the desk as she leans toward Marinette. “How’d the ‘plan’ go?”

Marinette squeaks. Adrien squirms in his seat, staring at his hands, screaming in his head not to turn around. He’s ignoring the way Nino is staring at him, trying to hold still.

”Come on, girl, spill!” Alya whispers. “Did you kiss him?”

”Yep!” Marinette squeaks.

”Oh my god you’re so red!” Alya cackles. Then her voice drops to a hiss. “Tell me  _everything!”_

Marinette swallows. “I mean... it was really weird?” she says. “He... didn’t know we were dating?”

Adrien’s blood rushes to his ears like a vise around his skull, crushing inward.  _Didn’t know we were dating_. That’s—it’s impossible.

Alya snorts. “Girl, are you  _sure_ you’re not dating Adrien?”

Adrien doesn’t hear Marinette’s response. He doesn’t hear much of anything until lunchtime, really.

 _Marinette is Ladybug._ He’s going to explode.

* * *

“Hi, Mari!” he says as soon as she closes her locker.

She shrieks, leaping backward, scattering her papers on the ground, and Adrien immediately feels a rush of guilt at surprising her—but cats are 60% bastard, and he can’t help taking a little joy in it.

Marinette heaves a breath, pressing her hand to her chest. “Adrien!” she gasps. “You’ve gotta stop doing that!”

Adrien feels a grin spread across his face. “Never,” he drawls, leaning a bit into her space. “You’re too much fun to scare.”

Marinette smirks, pressing a finger to his sternum. “Well maybe I’ll just start sneaking up on  _you_.”

Adrien’s heart begins to beat hard in his chest at her touch, at her smile. Oh, it’s  _her_ , it’s her, it’s her. And she’s not scared of him anymore, and now he knows  _exactly_ why that is...

”Can—can I talk to you?” he gasps out. “In private?”

Marinette’s eyebrows tighten, concern in her eyes. “Everything okay?”

It strikes him through the ribs, the way she cares about him, the way she makes  _his_ problems  _hers,_ and he knows she deserves the universe. He’s loved her, both of her, since the day they met, and she’s loved both of him, and if she asked him to steal the sun for her he’d burn himself alive snatching it from the sky. “Everything’s fine!” he says, gripping her arm. “Everything’s... great, actually.” He flashes her a smile, his fan’s favorite smile, hoping to put her at ease.

Instead, she tenses. “That’s your fake smile,” she says, her eyes narrowing.

Adrien blinks. “You can  _tell?_ ” he says.

Marinette’s eyes widen, and her face goes bright red. “I—uh—”

Adrien bites his lip. Right, she’s been in love with him forever—knowing how she is, how the hammer-force of her attention slams down on everything she cares about, she probably noticed  _everything_ about him. It’s a wonder she didn’t figure out his identity.

”It’s fine!” he says. “I was just—trying to put you at ease, you know?”

Marinette sets her jaw and nods, glancing around the locker room, cataloguing everyone in the room the way she does when she’s trying to work out a Lucky Charm. “Classroom’s empty?”

Adrien nods. “Classroom.”

* * *

Marinette sits down on his desk, crossing her legs and leaning forward. “What’s up?”

Adrien looks away, breathes in. “How’s things with your boyfriend?”

Marinette blinks. “Adrien?” she says. There’s a note of...  _something_ in her voice. Hope? Anger? Disappointment? Maybe all three.  _You’re paying attention to me **now?**_  it seems to say.

“Last night was your anniversary, right?” Adrien says, looking at her. The pigtails. The eyes, bluer than blue. The earrings he’s only ever seen her take off once—the day Lady Noire showed up instead of Ladybug. Everything about her is the same, even the fire in her eyes.

Marinette’s eyes narrow. “Adrien, if this is about—”

”To be fair, My Lady,” he interrupts, slashing a Chat smile across his face, “you never actually  _told_ me we were dating.”

Marinette’s face goes slack, her mouth open, her eyes wide. “I—what?” she whispers. “You... no. No way. You—you can’t...” She straightens, breathing in, gathering herself. “Kitty?” she whispers.

Adrien grins, pressing one arm to his waist and throwing the other out wide with a bow. “Always at your service,” he says.

Suddenly he’s halfway to the floor, falling backwards, Marinette’s tiny hands seizing bunches of his lapels, her lips strawberry-sweet on his. They slam against the ground, together, entwined, gasping, together. Peppering each other with kisses.

“Kitty—”

“My Lady—”

“Princess—”

” _Adrien—”_

_”Marinette—”_

” _I love you,_ ” he gasps, clutching her chest against his own, and she stiffens.

”I... have been waiting to—to hear you say that... for—for two years,” she stammers.

He presses a kiss to her temple. “I’ve been saying it in private every day,” he says. “And I will say it to you every day for as long as you want it.”

Plagg snorts. “I can confirm,” he says. “ _Every frickin’ day_ with this kid. Both identities, too!”

Marinette giggles. “You should hear some of the stuff I said about  _you,_ ” she says. Then her eyes widen. “Or—maybe not, please don’t—”

Tikki giggles from inside her purse. “I’m telling him anyway!”

Marinette’s eyes shoot to her bag. “ _Betrayal!_ ” she hisses.

Adrien giggles, and Marinette laughs too, and the two of them just dissolve into laughter. Then, suddenly, Marinette stops.

”Oh,” she says. “Oh, no.”

Adrien blinks. “My Lady?”

Marinette fixes her burning gaze on his eyes. “What are we going to tell Alya?”


End file.
